2x 30 min interviews, 1 day apart
Interview 1: poem given beforehand, personal statement; Interview 2: word/philosophy problems, image analysis
Specimen papers online, translations
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Put time and thought into personal statement.
Remember this advice isn't official. There is no guarantee it will reflect your experience because university applications can change between years. Check the official Cambridge and Oxford websites for more accurate information on this year's application format and the required tests.
Also, someone else's experience may not reflect your own. Most interviews are more like conversations than tests and like, any conversation, they are quite interactive.
Test taken:
Number of interviews: 2
Skype interview: No
Time between each interview: 1 day
Length of interviews: 30 minutes each
In the first interview, I was asked to discuss a poem given to me 20 minutes before (in English). Then, we mostly discussed my personal statement - they asked me to expand further on things I’d said. The focus was on literature.
In the second interview, I was given some word/philosophical problems to look at beforehand and discuss. Then, for the ancient history aspect, I was asked to try to sort pictures of coins into chronological order and explain my reasoning.
The atmosphere was relaxed and informal. We were sat on sofas. It felt like a chat and was a two-way thing rather than like a job interview.
I tried the specimen papers on the website and did some Latin and Greek translations.
I found for classics the best thing is to put time and thought into your personal statement - you will then be able to expand further/have evidence for your interest in the subject.
Also, don’t stress too much as it really is an interesting conversation - there aren’t ‘right’ answers; it’s more their curiosity about the way you think and approach questions.
In terms of help/resources, my